The view from the top in the CSP Mountain Division

By Geoff Scotton VP External, CSP Mountain Division (geoffscotton@skipatrol.ca)

Across the 11 zones stretching from the Yukon to the Canada-U.S. border between Alberta and Montana, the nearly 700 members of the CSP Mountain Division have been having a very busy 2023-2024 winter season and are readying for an active spring. Here are a few highlights from mid-winter on:

• Several zones have celebrated milestone anniversaries, including the CSP Yukon Zone (40 years) and the CSP Pembina Zone (50 years.)

• Division on snow coordinator Lance Barclay has travelled to Whitehorse (Mount Sima) for a one-day combined ski and toboggan on snow training seminar. The weather cooperated, spiking to a sweltering -28 from the -38 recorded days before. Lance is also heading to Marmot Basin (Jasper, Alberta) in March for another session.
• The third of three clinic weeks for the 2024 CSP Mountain Division Ski Improvement Clinic was underway at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort from February 25 to March 1, with roughly 100 registrants in attendance.

• The CSP Mountain Division’s biennial skills and toboggan competition, called the First Aid and On Snow Training Seminar, or FAST, will take place at Sunshine Village outside Banff, Alberta on Friday April 5 and Saturday April 6. Teams are hard at work training.
• CSP Mountain Division President Mike Palamarek will attend the Canada West Ski Areas Association annual conference and trade show at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Jasper, Alberta from April 21 to 24. This is a major ski industry conference, the largest in Canada.
• Members and leaders of the division and its zones are now working on award submissions ahead of the division deadline for award nominations on April 18, 2024. (The national CSP awards deadline is May 28.) Recognition is a powerful motivator for volunteers and CSP members are no different.
• The division executive, zone presidents, coordinators and other guests will meet in person in Edmonton on May 25 and 26 for the division’s spring conference, awards and seminar. The division executive and zone presidents will meet virtually June 12 for the division’s annual general meeting.